Science delivers repeated blows to deluded deniers

It must be difficult, if not downright embarrassing, to be a climate change denier these days. After all, the scientists they've attacked have been exonerated, London's Sunday Times newspaper ran a retraction and apology for an article deniers were using to discredit climate change science, and more and more denier "experts" are being exposed as shills for industry or just disingenuous clowns. (Naomi Oreskes's excellent book Merchants of Doubt offers insight into how the deniers operate.) Meanwhile, evidence that fossil fuel emissions contribute to dangerous climate change just keeps building.

We use the term deniers deliberately. People who deny overwhelming scientific evidence without providing any compelling evidence of their own and who remain steadfast in their beliefs even as every argument they propose gets shot down do not demonstrate the intellectual rigour to be called skeptics.

Meanwhile, evidence of the harm our fossil fuel addiction causes beyond climate change mounts every day, as oil spews into the Gulf of Mexico and as industry and governments spend huge sums of money to keep us hooked.

Let's take a look at some recent events.

First, three independent investigations found that the unimaginatively named "climategate" was anything but the scandal or nail in the coffin of anthropogenic global warming that deniers claimed. Although the reports, the last of which was released in early July, found that East Anglia University climate scientists at the centre of the hacked emails brouhaha could have been more open about sharing data, their science was rigorous and sound.

As their arguments fall apart, deniers have stepped up their efforts, even going so far as to send hate mail and death threats to scientists who are working to ensure our survival in the face of the greatest danger we face.

And then we have the spectacle of the fossil fuel industry and petro-fuelled governments doing all they can to prolong our addiction to nonrenewable and polluting sources of energy as oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, threatening bird, marine, and human life, as well as local economies.

Our federal government recently cancelled an 18-month investigation into tar sands pollution of water and destroyed all draft copies of the report. And Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach paid $55,800 to place a half-page ad in the Washington Post promoting tar sands oil and a pipeline to carry it to the U.S. - after the newspaper refused to publish his arguments on its opinion pages. Meanwhile, Premier Stelmach has joined with Alberta and federal government officials and oil industry representatives to promote tar sands oil in the U.S. and to water down any U.S. regulations that might reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Of course, the deniers will ignore the evidence. Nothing would please us more than if they were right. Life really would be easier if fossil fuels like oil and coal did not cause environmental damage or pose risks to life on our small planet. But this is the real world, with real scientific evidence pointing to the urgent need to make changes in the way we live and get energy.

We have many ways to confront the threat of catastrophic climate change, from individual efforts to conserve energy and pollute less to government initiatives to encourage research and development into clean energy technology.

It's time to listen to the people who continue to look at the facts in the face of baseless accusations, break-ins, and threats. We need to listen to those are trying to do something about our predicament rather than wishing it away.